The flowering of a Bluebell wood is one of Britain's greatest natural displays. There really is something bewitching about the way a Bluebell wood comes to life after its winter slumber each year. This magical quality was not lost on our ancestors who believed numerous superstitions and folklore concerning Bluebell woods.

Such was the beauty of an ancient woodland decorated with a sweeping carpet of Bluebells, that it was considered by many to be of unearthly origin. Bluebell woods were considered very dangerous places by folklore. Faeries were said to live in these places and to walk into a Bluebell wood was to risk being whisked away into their Nether World!

Such belief might well be behind the superstition that it was bad luck to pick Bluebells and take them into ones home. So precious are these wonderful flowers that it is today illegal to pick them in the wild.

Bluebells were said to chime out to summon faeries to a meeting and and if a human was to hear their peel, they were sure to die within the year. A further magical attribute attached to the plant was the notion that wearing a wreath of Bluebells would compel its wearer to speak the truth.

The Bluebells found on the Gower Peninsula are special in that they are our native species of the plant. The Spanish Bluebell, introduced into Britain as a garden ornament, is now threatening the population of our less hardy, and prettier, native species ( Hyacinthoides non-scripta). Hybrid species of our native and the Spanish Bluebell are also taking a toll on the number of Hyacinthoides non-scripta. With Britain being home to a large percentage of the World's entire population of this species, the native Bluebell is getting less and less common.

More popularly known by the darkly evocative name Deadly Nightshade, Atropa belladonna has also been called Devil's Herb, Sorcerer's Berry and Witch's Berry. These various name detail the plant's long association with pagan magic.

In folklore, Deadly Nighshade is seen as being one of the Devil's own plants and it is said that anyone attempting to pick the plant would encounter him. The only time it was considered safe to pick the plant was on Walpurgis Night, when the Devil would leave his care of his plants to attend the Sabbat. Deadly Nightshade was an ingredient in various Witch's spells and salves during the Middle Ages - flying ointment perhaps being its most well-known use. Here, the ointment containing Belladonna would be rubbed into the skin on intimate parts of the body. This would raise a condition of sexual arousal and hallucinations which would allow the participant to travel to a witch's Sabbat where they would copulate with the Devil and his various demons. This flying ointment was also sometimes spread on besom handles, which would then be used as a masturbatory aid, increasing the witch's frenzied passion.

Deadly Nightshade, as it name more than suggests, is a highly poisonous plant. Hyoscine (Scopolamine) is its main alkaloid poison although numerous other toxic compounds are also present in the plant. Symptoms of consuming Belladonna include a dry mouth, a swollen throat, blurred vision, a racing heartbeat, drowsiness, hallucinations and delirium, coma and death. All parts of the plant are poisonous although it is it's attractive-looking berries which have caused the greatest number of recorded poisonings, as they seem particularly inviting to small children.

Despite the dangers present in Deadly Nightshade, Belladona was once commonly used as a cosmetic by women. Belladona drops applied to the eyes dilated the pupils to an attractive degree and so popular did this practice become that the name belladonna itself originates from this us - Belladona meaning 'Beautiful Lady'. Atropos, the first part of Deadly Nightshade's Latin title, was one of the 3 Fates, who held the shears which could cut the thread of life.

Deadly Nightshade has a long history of medicinal use. In early times, it was used to treat corns, reduce inflammation, correct arrythmia and protect against Scarlet Fever. It was also used as pain relief and was later used as anesthetic for surgical procedures. Today, Atropine is used as an antispasmodic in the treatment of asthma, a muscle relaxant for gastrointestinal contractions, a decongestant for the treatment of hay fever and is now being used to ease the tremors of Parkinson's Disease sufferers.

During one of my regular walks on the Gower Peninsula, I was delighted to stumble across a patch of dainty Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia) in full bloom. These delicate flowers, which are amongst the most gorgeous wildflowers you can hope to discover along the whole of Gower Peninsula, are as rich in folklore are they are in beauty:

The flowers are known by a dizzying variety of names, including Witches’ Bells, Fairy Caps, Cuckoo's Thimbles, Harvest Bells and, more ominously, Dead Man's Bells.

Harebells (which are still attractive to bees and butterflies despite their scentless flowers) have long held associations with witches as it was believed that the juices from its sky-blue petals were a vital ingredient to the flying ointment used to make their besoms (broomsticks) take to the air. The flowers are also linked to sightings of faeries. Picking these 'magickal' flowers was said to enrage such earth spirits and bring bad luck to those who removed such spendour from the faeries' playground.

The name Harebell, which is by far the most common name attributed to Campanula rotundifolia, seems to have originated from the way that even the gentlest of breezes rattle these bell-shaped flowers. Growing in places where hares once lived in abundance, it was believed that the animals were warned of approaching danger by their ringing - their large ears being capable of hearing their peal (which rings silently to all other mortal life).

Intoxicated by its heady scent and dizzied by its vibrant colours, Faery passions are said to be roused wherever large carpets of Heather are found in a landscape. According to ancient lore, such spots mark the location of magical portels, bridging the eveyday world of people with the Faery realm.

A Rare Patch of White Heather, Rhossili Down, Gower

White Heather has long been known for is lucky properties, perhas due to its relative scarcity in times past. White Heather was believed to only grow where no blood had ever been shed and also where ancient Faeries had been laid to rest. In Scotland, especially, this superstitious attribute to white Heather seems to have originated during periods of war when victorious clans put down their success in battle to wearing the plants on their bonnets.

An offering of Heather on Beltane, the May Day celebration, is said to attract faery visitors into your garden.

Historically, Heather has been utilised to serve many practical purposes. These include thatching rooves with its leggy stems, making brooms (its Latin name 'Calluna' is corrupted from the Greek 'Kalluna', meaning 'to brush'), great lengths of sea-hardy ropes have been twined from it and a strong yellow dye has been extracted from the plant.

Medicinally, infusions made from the tops of Heather have treated coughs and nervous conditions whilst Heather ointments have been used to ease rheumatic/athritic conditions. Dried flowers from the plant have long been known for their sleep inducing quality and were once packed within bed frames to ease their occupiers into a gentle state of slumber.

Heather has also been made into drinks and Robert Burns is believed to have favoured Heather tea as his refreshment of choice. Heather Ale, made by fermenting the flowers from the plant, was enjoyed in Scotland for generations. The populairty and importance of this drink amongst ancient tribes can best be summarised by the telling of an old legend concerning the times when the Vikings first invaded Scotland c. 794 a.d.

Rampaging across the Scottish landscape, the Viking army conquered and slayed all who crossed their path until they cornered the King and his son (the keepers of the Heather Ale recipe) near a cliff edge. The King and his son were tortured for the secret formula and the King finally relented, stating that should his son be spared any further torture and be given a mercifully quick killing, then he would pass the recipe on to the Viking leader. With the Prince quickly despatched to his death from the cliff top, the king then told the Viking leader that he had feared that his son might have given away the secret if he had been tortured further, whereas he knew that he, the King, would keep the secret to the grave. With that, he took hold of the Viking Chieftain and grappled him over the edge of the cliff to follow his son to their doom.

Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are one of Britian's most vibrant and beautiful wild flowers. Given their delicate splendour, is is no surprise to find the flowers are rich in folklore and symbolism.

Most people know of the poppy's connection with Armistice Day (often called Poppy Day). This association grew from the WW1 battlefields in France, where the fighting churned up the soil and brought thousands of dormant poppy seeds to the surface and decorated the land where so many had died in swathes of the gorgeous red flowers. The colourful scene which marked the fields where so much horror had suffering and death had occurred is, perhaps, best remembered in the following poem, written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae:

In Flander's Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.

We are Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved, and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders fields.

Take up your quarrel with the foe;To you from falling hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields

Poppies, however, were known to flourish on battlefields long before WW1. It was said after the battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) that the masses of poppies which suddenly flowered there had grown from the dead soldier's spilled blood.

The flower's connection with death has been known for countless centuries. The twin Greek deities Hypnos and Thanatos, were illustrated wearing crowns of poppies and the flowers were considered suitable offerings for the dead in both ancient Greece and Rome.

In other parts of the world, poppies have happier associations :o) In China, it is believed to be lucky to smell the scent of the flower three times a day and in Turkey, they symbolise the promise of health and peace.

Magical properties have also been attributed to the flower. In 'A Mid Summer's Night Dream', Shakespeare writes " The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid will make a man or woman madly dote upon the next live creature that it sees". Peering into the black centre was a traditional folk remedy for insomnia.

Whilst opium is derived from only one of the hundreds of different varieties of poppy, many poppies have sedative effects on those who consume them and poppies are sometimes inscribed on gravestones to symbolise eternal rest. In the popular film, The Wizard of Oz, a poppy field was depicted as dangerous as it caused all those who passed through it to fall asleep forever. Such are the properties of this plant that foods rich in culinary poppy seeds can even result in the failing of an opiate drug test and the sale of poppy seeds is banned in several countries.

St. John's Wort is most commonly known today for being a herbal remedy for depression. But the plant's medicinal, and believed magickal properties, have been used throughout history as a prescription to improve a wide variety of physical, mental and spiritual conditions.

Ointments made from the plant were said to be great healing agents for even the deepest of wounds and were used by early surgeons to clean infections. The plant has also been noted to improve sciatica, palsy, ulcers, chronic catarrh, gout, rheumatism, jaundice and bed sores. It has also proved successful in treating bed-wetting in children. Native Americans used the plant as a snake bite remedy as well as a general tonic to build up strength.

St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) has also found its uses as a talisman/amulet to ward off troubles of a more supernatural origin. Wearing its flowers was believed to ward off troublesome spirits, explaining an earlier name attributed to St. John's Wort - 'Chase-Devil.'

The plant has also been used for divining the future. Young maidens would pick some of its bright yellow flowers and if they were still fresh the following day, their future marriage was seen to be blessed with good fortune. Examining the drying sprigs of the flowering plant, hung from a rafter in a family home, could also, it was believed, determine the order in which the family members would die!

St. John's Wort, takes its name from St. John the Baptist (probably because the plant flowers around the time of Saint John's Day - June 24th). The red spots which can be found along the plant have also been associated with the saint's blood. These red spots are explained in the following folk tale:

The Devil would often attend the bedsides of the ill, hoping to capture their poor souls as they slipped away from this mortal coil. However, he became increasingly frustrated when these people kept recovering their health after being given medicine prepared from St. John's Wort. In his fury, he stabbed at the plant again and again with his fiery fork until it bled profusely. Unfortunately for the Devil, the blood released from the plant was that of St. John the Baptist's himself, and thereafter St. John's Wort became an even stronger tonic for the ill and infirm!

Wild Thyme a.k.a. Creeping Thyme, is a beautiful wild flower which can appear in numerous colour displays ranging through the various hues between pink and purple (very rarely, its flowers can also appear in white). The colourful patch of wild thyme featured in this post was made all the more spectacular by it contrasting nicely with the silver-grey limestone rock which stabs through the earth at various points near the summit of Bovehill Tor.

Perhaps it was the delicious hues and perfume of Wild Thyme which made our ancestors believe they marked favourite sites for faery visitations. Land decorated by Wild Thyme was said to be blessed as sacred by faeries and folklore held that large gatherings of these spirits could be witnessed at these grounds by mortals who smeared themselves in Thyme oil.